I've got (from what I've been told by the previous owner) nismo suspension, it seems a little lower than standard, but my god is the ride harsh! really bumpy and uncomfortable.
so if I got some coilovers would I get a better ride?
I've got (from what I've been told by the previous owner) nismo suspension, it seems a little lower than standard, but my god is the ride harsh! really bumpy and uncomfortable.
so if I got some coilovers would I get a better ride?
Shocks might be ****ed as ive always thought the nismo's gave a nice comfy , slightly sportier ride than standard ???
Coilovers will be stiffer than a matched spring and shock combo but from experiance i found the HSD comfy coilovers to be a nice happy medium between a spring/shock combo and full on coilovers tuned predominantly just for handling
You probably have mis-matched spring rates to the dampers, causing the crap ride.
Speak to Bren on here at Apex Performance, he can do you Limo Coilovers or Comfy's, which have got real rave reviews on matching with comfort
Not true, coilovers can be specced to provide a massive range of ride quality from full race to near stock as demonstrated and proven in another similar thread on hereOriginally Posted by LewyS14a
Shocks might be ****ed as ive always thought the nismo's gave a nice comfy , slightly sportier ride than standard ???
Coilovers will be stiffer than a matched spring and shock combo but from experiance i found the HSD comfy coilovers to be a nice happy medium between a spring/shock combo and full on coilovers tuned predominantly just for handling
suj,
Thanks
are you just on Nismo springs?
using lowering springs on standard shocks has a tendancy to make the shocks fail so this could be your problem.
If it is you can go two routes - KYB/KYB AGX shocks (or symilar) or go the whole hog and get coilovers.
and match them to your type of driving and also road surface you mainly encounter.
Oop north where there are a lot of moorland roads which are very uneven and bumpy then you want the comfio coilovers, if on german autobahns and tracks then you could go stiffer.
yer pays yer money and takes yer choice.
Yup, could be shot shockers or a bad choice of spring rates.
Go coilovers with a nice rate and it will be far better.
If you can afford it. The limo coilovers that apex/Bren sells have had very very good reviews from some of the fussiest people on the board. Definitely worth a punt.
In my experience the only reason damper fails when lowering springs have been fitted is because so many garages are butchers and use molegrips on the top of damper rod to stop it rotating when undoing and redoing the top nut. The molegrips damage the damper rod. Because the springs lower the car the damage is closer to the seals than with standard springs so pass through the seals damaging it leading to damper failure.
We had a spate of KYB failures a few years ago and every failure was due to visable and evident damper rod damage.
I've got the Nismo S-Tunes on my car and am pretty happy with the ride they offer. The roads I drive on are normally country roads which are pretty unforgiving.
They are noticeably stiffer than the standard setup but to me the ride feels like any modern hot hatch I guess. Firm but not wooly.
Not having experience coilovers I can't really comment on them, but am possibly looking to upgrade to a set because I wanna go lower at some point!
I need to have a look through the service history and find out what exactly has been put on there.
I've just left the vw fold and I've had various golfs that have all been on coilovers and sat on the deck, I had a mk3 golf that sat an inch off the floor, but that rode better than this s14. I mean I can't listen to CDs in the car as they keep skipping.
thats interesting Bren, - its certainly a convincing explanation for why perfectly good shocks suddenly develop a fault when the car is lowered.
Last edited by sparkyhx; 09-02-2012 at 16:27.
if the damper had failed the ride would be the opposite of harsh
What is the best method to avoid damaging, as in what is best to use other than grips?
If the damper rod has two flats on the top of it it then you use a spanner on the flat to stop the damper rod rotating when you tighten the top nut with a spanner. Alternatively you use a windy gun as they spin the nut on at a force and speed that prevents the damper rod spinning. You just need to make sure you dont tighten the top nut excessively.
We use electric thump guns to take the top nuts off of suspension and then to refit the nut the majority of the way down but they do the final tightening with a spanner and, in the case of our coilovers, an allan key to make sure the nut isnt over tightened.
Another trick is an old timing belt. cut it so its one long strap, wrap it round the rod a couple of times tight and then pinch the two ends together with mole grips. It should then grip the rod quite well. Or you could even line the mole grips with the belt and use this straight onto the rod.
sometimes you will need a decent swan neck spanner to be able to get into the cup. most shocks on cars are a 21mm nut
Agreed, you do need a swan neck. I assume thats another reason why people bodge the job, they dont have the correct tools.
I'm struggling to see how a damaged top of a damper rod affects the seals.
Surely the seals don't come anywhere close to the top of the damper rod, plus there is a rubber stop in there too.
When you lower the car the damper rod drops into the damper body. If you fit 40mm lower springs then straight away the damage at the top of the damper rod is 40mm closer to the seals.
Original spec dampers and the vast majority of lowering springs are soft so allow a lot of damper travel.
Bump stops compress, they arent solid.
The fact of the matter is that we have seen multiple damper failures with new or recently fitted KYBs and in every instance we found very clear and evident damage to the damper rod. Bit of a coincidence if the damage isnt causing the seal failure, no?
That really informative lads,
Thanks very much.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
